408 Directions for drawing Trees and 



the horsechestnut ought to be drawn in June, the laburnum 

 about the same season, and the connnon apple tree, the Siberian 

 crab, the quince, and one or two others, in autumn. Some 

 species of the genus Cratse^gus are highly beautiful, both when in 

 flower, in May or June, and when in fruit, from September to 

 December ; and these may be drawn at either season. Evergreens 

 may be drawn during autumn, and the whole of winter, till they 

 begin to make their shoots, in May ; from that period they are 

 unsightly for several weeks, while they are losing their old leaves 

 and acquiring new ones ; and they are uncharacteristic of the 

 species till the new leaves and shoots have acquired that rigidity 

 which is not produced till after complete maturity. This will 

 be rendered particularly obvious by observing the common spruce 

 fir, the Scotch pine, and the evergreen oak, during the growing 

 season ; say, about London, from the middle of May till the 

 middle of June, as we shall show in that part of the Arhoretum 

 Britannicum which ti'eats of the study of trees as a science, by 

 portraits of the same tree at different seasons of the year. A 

 young spruce fir ti'ee drawn in May, to the scale of a quarter 

 of an inch to a foot, would have a touch not unlike that of a 

 horsechestnut; and a pine, and an evergreen oak, would appear 

 to be trees of quite a different species from what they are. In 

 general there is a great sameness in the appearance of all trees 

 during the leafing season, from the absence of that rigidity of 

 foliage on the points of the shoots which gives rise to the par- 

 ticular touch of each species. Some deciduous trees are almost 

 as readily known by their appearance in winter, after all the 

 leaves have dropt, as they are in summer. Portraits of such 

 trees may be taken during that season ; and, indeed, it were to 

 be desired that portraits of all our principal trees could be given 

 in their naked as well as in their clothed state. How very 

 characteristic these winter portraits are, in the case of some 

 species, is rendered obvious by ^^.63., which is a portrait of 

 Gleditsch/a inermis, taken from the Horticultural Society's 

 garden in April last. 



We have now, we think, given ample directions for drawing 

 trees in black and white ; that is, with the black-lead pencil, or 

 a pen and Indian ink. The kind of black-lead pencil proper to 

 be used is that marked h, or hard, by the manufacturers ; in ad- 

 dition to which it is necessary to have one marked f, which is 

 not quite so hard, and, consequently, admits of shading with 

 greater rapidity. The young gardener, in using these or any 

 other pencils should be careful not to put the lead to his mouth, 

 or otherwise wet it, as this ends in glazing the lead and prevent- 

 ing it from marking the paper without great exertion. In draw- 

 ing from nature in the open air, when the air is humid, a softer 

 pencil requires to be used than when the air is dr^^ ; and for this 



